


Nothing Less

by saiditallbefore



Category: Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott
Genre: Gen, Suffrage Movement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 02:30:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21205982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiditallbefore/pseuds/saiditallbefore
Summary: In which Bess unexpectedly finds a new interest, and she and Nan find something to bond over.





	Nothing Less

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/gifts).

Nan hurried down the path, away from Plumfield College. Her final class for the day had gone a bit long— the professor really did like to hear himself talk. 

She’d be glad when she finished her schooling, and she could begin her real career as a surgeon.

“Nan?” a familiar voice called. “Where are you going?” Bess looked like a porcelain doll, too delicate and pale to be outside. 

Nan halted, silently cursing both Bess and her professor. At this rate, she was going to be late.

“I’m on my way to a meeting,” she said. “I really—”

Bess tilted her head, golden curls spilling everywhere. “What sort of meeting?”

“It’s about women’s suffrage,” Nan said, bracing herself. Bess was too kind to laugh in someone’s face— or even behind their back— but Nan thought she might prefer laughter to Bess’s gentle criticisms.

But there was no criticism forthcoming. Instead, Bess looked thoughtful. “Do you think… do you think I might be able to come with you?”

Nan blinked in surprise. “Of course you can! But shouldn’t you tell someone—”

Bess waved an airy hand. “I told my parents I was visiting friends. They won’t mind.” Then, she tucked her arm through Nan’s, just as they used to do when they were children.

As they walked down the path, Nan said, “I’m so glad you’re coming, but— I didn’t realize you were interested.” Bess had never shown any particular interest in the movement when Nan had talked about it before. If Nan was honest with herself, the only person she’d really thought she might convince was Josie.

“Well, I don’t really know much about it,” Bess said. “Only what you’ve told me. And I’m afraid I don’t know anything at all about politics. But surely it’s worth learning more about?

“Besides,” she added, flashing a grin that would have been sweet on anyone else but was decidedly wicked on Bess. “Papa is always saying I need to expand my horizons.”

Nan threw her head back, laughing.

* * *

The meeting was held in a speaking hall, partway into the city. The room was packed with women, and even a few men, there to listen to the night’s talk. The speaker was Mrs. Caroline Beswick, a suffragette who travelled round the country on speaking tours.

Mrs. Beswick spoke about Seneca Falls, and about the other leaders of the suffrage movement, and of what she’d seen for herself when she’d visited Wyoming, where women already had the vote. Nan found herself hanging intently onto every word.

But the best part came after, when Nan and Bess stepped out into the street. Bess’s face was all aglow with excitement, and Nan was certain that hers looked the same.

“So tell me,” Nan began. “Have you been convinced?”

Bess laughed. “Of course! How could I be anything else?” 

Nan grinned so widely her cheeks hurt. She’d been trying to talk to her friends about this for ages, trying to convince them to regarde the women’s suffrage movement with more than indulgence and bemusement. She hadn’t expected Bess to be the one to listen, though now she felt as though she’d underestimated the other woman.

“I’ve got books, and pamphlets, and all sorts of things,” Nan offered. “If you want to know more.”

Bess clasped Nan’s hands in excitement. “I would love that.”

* * *

Nan was so busy with classes and patients for the next few days, she didn’t have much time to think about Bess or about her newfound passion for the suffrage movement.

She was abruptly reminded, though, when she accepted an invitation from Teddy to join Mother Bhaer and all the rest at for supper one evening. It wasn’t at all out of the ordinary; she dined at Plumfield or Parnassus at least once a fortnight.

Bess greeted her with more effusiveness than Nan, personally, had ever received from her. 

“I’m so glad to see you!” Bess exclaimed. “I’ve been reading the _Declaration of Sentiments_—”

“Nan has convinced Bess to be a reformer,” Mr. Laurence said, amusement in his voice.

“And why shouldn’t I be, Papa?” Bess’s expression was something like indignant, if Beth ever got indignant. “I went to school right alongside boys for almost as long as I can remember. I’ve had an education that was just as good as any of theirs. Why shouldn’t I get to use it?”

“Hear, hear!” Mother Bhaer said, raising her glass in a toast.

“What about your art?” Mrs. Laurence asked.

“Can’t I do both?” Bess asked. Then, shaking her head, she stood. “Excuse me. I’m going to get some air.”

Astonished, Nan watched Bess walk out the door. Before she knew it, she had stood up and begun following her, with a hasty apology to the table thrown over her shoulder.

She found Bess standing in the garden, looking a bit lost.

“That was terribly rude of me,” Bess said.

“I’ve been forgiven for worse,” Nan said, and Bess smiled. Nan was trying to think of what to say— she’d never been known for her sensitivity— when Bess spoke up.

“I didn’t mean to get upset,” she said. “Only— I don’t understand what they want. They want me to get out of the studio and live and— and everything, but they don’t me to change.”

Nan felt entirely out of depth when it came to difficulties with parents. She and her father were anything but close. But she had known the Laurences for years.

“They’ll get over it,” Nan assured Bess. “They’re just surprised. They won’t be shocked forever.”

Bess played with one of the flowers, twirling it between her fingers. “I know. And they’ll probably listen to Aunt Jo, even if they don’t listen to me.” 

She sighed. Then, “It has been giving me all sorts of ideas for my art, though. If I can get my sketch of last week’s meeting right, I would like to turn it into a painting.”

“There’s another meeting next week,” Nan said. “They’re not always that well-attended, but—”

“I’ll be there.” Bess grinned at Nan.

**Author's Note:**

> Caroline Beswick is not a real woman, but the Seneca Falls convention and the Declaration of Sentiments written at it were both very early milestones in the suffrage movement. They both would have been several decades before Bess and Nan were even born, but given that writings from earlier waves of feminism are still in circulation today, I don't think it's too big of a leap to include them.
> 
> The title draws from a famous slogan from the newspaper _The Revolution_, run by Susan B Anthony and George Francis Train: "Women, Their Rights, and Nothing Less".


End file.
